The Fictional Hangout: 12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

12 Days of Christmas - Best SFF Characters of 2013 - Day #12: The Justice League

I look at my final entry for the Best SFF Characters of 2013, a day later than planned. Hit the break to see why this character is so awesome.

Over the past ~~twelve~~ eleven days we've looked at several awesome characters and it's pretty much impossible to pick the best one, so as a result, this list is pretty much in a random order. On one day it could be Green Arrow at the top of the list and the next day it could be the Crew of the Serenity or Lara Croft, they're just that interchangeable and that brilliant. Which is why that when I came to Day #12, I actually ended up delaying it a day, debating on what the character that fufils this spot might be. Nightwing? Shazam? Ichabod and Abbie from Sleepy Hollow or Kennex and Dorian from Almost Human? Maybe even Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural. The list is just so varied and we haven't even talked about novel characters yet. And 2013 was full of great characters from the novels.

However, there can only be one spot left, and that spot was going to go to my favourite DC Comics Superhero team. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman - could it really be anybody else? The Justice League in my opinion are far and away the greatest superhero team currently in existence and the Avengers don't even come close to some of my favourite DC Comics Heroes. We've seen them in a wide range of media this year and I thought I'd cheat and cover them all at once because there was no way (like with the many other groups on this list) that I would be able to pick a standout character. It was a terrific year for Superman, with Man of Steel, Superman Unchained, Superman/Wonder Woman and his 75th Anniversary which included the awesome short Anniversary clip that was ranked on DC's list of 10 moments that made 2013. Batman continued to dominate the mainstray of DC books this year for good and ill, bringing us some awesome books in the form of Snyder's main Batman series, Detective Comics and Batman and Robin. And without Batman, we wouldn't have series like Nightwing and Batgirl which are among the standouts of the Bat-Family. Wonder Woman's biggest news this year was the announcement that she would be played by Gal Gadot in the forthcoming Man of Steel 2, and Ben Affleck playing Batman was easily the Dark Knight's biggest news of the year.

It's been a year of mixed things for the Justice League, but they're all excellent characters in their own right, and of course not just the New 52 rooster but also every character that's ever been part of the League in the past. We've also had some great stories this year as well - Trinity War being a fun and awesome three-way war, and in other mediums we've had the aforementioned Man of Steel film as well as Batman: Arkham Origins. Geoff Johns wrapped up both his several year run on Green Lantern this year as well as his run on Aquaman that changed the character from laughing stock of comics into one of the most badass superheroes ever - and has also reintroduced Shazam. Johns has also carried the Justice League main series (as well as Justice League of America) through the vast part of the year and now in the middle of Forever Evil things can only get better from here. 2013 has been a year of mixed things when it comes to DC Comics, but one thing that has never changed is the awesomeness of the Justice League.

2013 was a pretty strong year, wasn't it? But hopefully, 2014 can be a million times better. With the end of Forever Evil to look forward to as well as Justice League Canada from Jeff Lemire, things are looking great already.